[Surfnetkids: 17 Mar 2010] Famous Women

Let me tell you a story. The year was 1999, and I went to the local Computer Fair in Del Mar, California. I don’t remember much about it, and I never would even be thinking about it today except that apparently I picked up a business card. The card advertised the services of one Doug Lemmon, webmaster, and his company The Starving Students something or another. Apparently that card was dropped on my desk, and then quickly buried under the usual pile of papers. And there it hid until the day that Disney sent a film crew to my office, wanting to interview me about kids on the Net, etc, etc. So guess who had to clean off her desk, and guess what I found? Doug’s card. I called him. We got together. And Doug started working as my webmaster and assorted assistant, answering email, uploading files, link checking everything, and putting together the weekly newsletters. For eleven years.

Doug died from complications of urethral cancer at the San Diego Hospice on Monday March 15, 2010. Just a week after his 56th birthday. May he rest in peace. He’ll be missed here on Earth.

As one of the best sources of information about your ancestors, census records are invaluable to your family history research. Archives.com allows members to access millions of U.S. census records. To make the search more precise, Archives.com just launched an enhancement that allows you to search for census records by census year.

In honor of March’s designation as Women’s History Month, here are my web picks for exploring “herstory” through the eyes of the women that made it. Women’s History Month began as a single week in 1978 in Sonoma County, California. In 1981, it was elevated to National Women’s Week by Congress, then expanded to a month in 1987.

200 Famous Women Creative Quotations isn’t the biggest quotation site, but I like their Famous Women section because each quote page includes a biography snippet and the quotes all focus on some aspect of creativity. Despite the title, the collection includes more than seven hundred famous women. They are listed alphabetically from Berenice Abbott (American photographer) to Babe Didrikson Zaharias (American golfer), who said, “Luck? Sure. But only after long practice and only with the ability to think under pressure.”

Bio: Notable Women In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Biography Channel presents their list of notable women divided into three lists: History Makers; Media, The Arts, and Entertainment; and Athletes. Each featured woman is annotated with a short biography, a list of important accomplishments, list of related people, and sometimes, a related website or two. “While there are few Queens or Princesses among them, all these women have distinguished themselves for courage, creativity, persistence and vision. Well-loved or notorious, they have all made their mark on history.”

Famous Women Inventors “Anyone who’s ever driven in a rain or snow storm can attest to the dire importance of windshield wipers. What a lot of people don’t know is that windshield wipers were invented by a woman. Inventor Mary Anderson received a patent for her car-window cleaning device in 1903.” Focusing only on inventors, this site shines a spotlight on nineteen women who excelled in this traditionally male-dominated field. In addition to the short articles describing each invention, the site includes a resource list of sites about women inventors, and the process of inventing.

Surfnetkids Printables Club Members also get the following printables to use in the classroom, the computer lab, the school library, or to send home with students: Famous Women Printable Women’s Suffrage Printable Susan B Anthony Printable Sojourner Truth Printable Amelia Earhart Printable *** Are you curious? Get your own ten-day trial membership:http://www.surfnetkids.com/printables-club.htm

“If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it.” ~~ Sojourner Truth (~1797 1883) Black American abolitionist and womens rights advocate, born a slave. ~~Click here for more Sojourner Truth quotes.